Pack One has been doing a phenomenal job keeping Packers fans abreast of all the off-season happenings with the green and gold. If you’re a fan at all, do yourself a favor and check out his Packer News blog. That being said, my intent here is to beat the dead horse that is, the retirement of Brett Favre.
For the longest time, Dino and I have been talking about the retirement of Brett Favre and how I feel about it. I was disappointed when I heard the news and I can never underestimate the impact that Brett Favre has had on my passion as a fan. So many times he snatched victory from the jaws of defeat (and unfortunately, vice-versa…) He is an icon and single-handedly led the renaissanceof Green Bay Packers football.
Given all that, I was…relieved.
Have you ever been in a relationship with someone, and they would always threaten to break up with you until, you were just ready for things to be over? That’s how I was. I was tired of the speculation every year about retirement and the veiled threats to the GM about going after the players that he wanted and so many people yelling about what the franchise “owed” him. Enough is enough.
We all knew that day would come, when he wouldn’t be the quarterback of the Green Bay Packers. I respect him for going out the way he did…on top. He still could perform at a high level, but I also think he was a three-game losing streak away from musing that he made the wrong decision to come back. He didn’t need that, and the team full of young players definitely didn’t need that.
I choose to remember him as he was. He left on his own terms a hero to the fans of Green Bay. His number will be retired the first game of the season, and there will be some tears. People will clamor for him to reconsider, thinking he’s the path to success.
Then, Ryan Grant will run for a score and Aaron Rodgers will pass for 3 TD’s and the Packers will beat the Vikings, launching a new era…one I am ready to face.
PackOne
4:17 pm on May 12th
Personally, the day I heard the news I was stuck at work. They played the thing over and over again on CNN. By the time I got home I lost it. Brett has meant a lot of things to many people, and has personally defined a great portion of my life.
I think the gap between Favre and Rodgers was closing … in a hurry. I think Favre saw it too. I wish he could have had that last game, but in true Brett fashion it wasn’t meant to be. There will be no argument that there has ever been a player more ‘fun’ to watch.
He was the Green Bay Packers.
Now is the time for re-definition.
Somebody, please stand up.
Dino Corvino
4:33 pm on May 12th
I was standing in County Market in Wausau, they patched it through to the muzak. Literally the whole store stopped, and just stood still.
Grown me, ME, teared up and looked at our feet.
It was brutal.
I like my heroes.
Erik Cieslewicz
5:25 pm on May 12th
Even though my young mind can remember the Magic Man taking snaps for the Packers, Favre has really always been the man my whole life. My grandmother is the biggest Packer fan I know and I remember her ups and downs as Favre found himself.
When I heard about it I was in the newsroom, which of course went into a tizzy. Newsteams were reassigned in a hurry and we needed to get some Packer news for the broadcast that night. Making plans to carry the live feed of the press conference and starting work on the half hour long special.
I was lucky enough to be the editor of a piece Mikel did about how the world has changed since Favre took his first snap as a Packer. Nothing like a little shameless self-promotion, so here’s the story on YouTube: http://youtube.com/watch?v=ONMfKDP8jkI
But personally, I’m really looking forward to a changing of the guard at Green Bay. There’s a great young team coming up and I think they’ll really benefit from a new face calling the shots on offense.
score hero
7:08 am on May 13th
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Melissa Sullivan
7:48 am on May 13th
I was working at home that morning when Shawn called me to tell me the rumor was Favre was retiring. “BS!” I cried, not because I was sad, but because I had heard that rumor for four years and wasn’t falling for it again. A couple hours later, ESPN confirmed it, and I was relieved and excited. I think Aaron Rodgers is as ready as anyone could be, and I can’t wait to see what he’ll do. Not that Brett Favre wasn’t awesome, but I just can’t take another season of feeding his emotional needs.
But then, maybe I’m just naive. I didn’t start following the Packers until 1993, which means I’ve never known the Packers without Brett Favre. I can only imagine the pain of being a fan in the cold, dark 1980s. But I’m fairly certain that we won’t end up there again…at least for a while.
rockerchick
12:05 pm on May 14th
I wasn’t sad about it one bit. Out with the old and in with the new. Yup, not a Packer’s fan and not a Favre fan. He was great, one of the greatest. Now it’s someone else’s time to be totally overexploited by the media masses.
Erik Cieslewicz
3:05 pm on May 14th
I find it interesting that the media is blamed for supposive over exposure of Brett Favre. The media is a business, and just like any other it obeys the laws of supply and demand. If it supplies something that no one wants, there’s no viewers and there’s no revenue. Then there’s no more of that company.
I’m sure on some level or another the media works to convince people that they need to the information being provided, but regardless of tin foil hat theories the media is fulfilling a demand from the public. If you want to throw someone under the bus over the Brett Favre thing look no further than the mirror.
Mohawk Matt
3:37 pm on May 14th
Well, as a Bears fan, I’m not sad to see him go, though I will give him the respect he deserves as a player. Players come and go in the NFL, but it takes a really special player to be a pain in my ass. All props to Favre. Unfortunately for the Packers, they will be in the same quarterback situation as the Bears in a couple years.
greenbay packers
5:14 am on May 31st
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